Contrast of the Fathers' Images Between The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

1、AcknowledgementsI have spent several months going through this long journey of writing this thesis, in which I encountered lots of dilemmas and bottlenecks. Fortunately, I overcome all the difficulties that once disappointed me. However, I have benefited a lot from it, and I have gained more knowled

2、ge and enlightenment from it than I ever expected.Firstly, I would like to show my gratitude to our university for providing me with such a valuable opportunity of writing this thesis to conclude my precious four years undergraduate education.And my most sincere appreciation belongs to my respectabl

3、e supervisor, Mrs. Wang Yang, an knowledgeable and amiable teacher, who has given me many needed helps and considerable suggestions patiently and painstakingly and has fulfilled the task of reading, critiquing, shaping and polishing all the preliminary of this thesis.Last but not least, I owe my gra

4、titude to my family and friends who have provided me with lots of suggestions and have showed their great supports which propped me up through those days.AbstractThe Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are two remarkable novels written by famous American writer Khaled Hosseini, which focus on s

5、howing the hard lives and the most touching parts of hearts of the people in Afghan. At the first of the thesis, there are three short introductions about the author, the two targeted novels and the historical background in the Afghanistan in two books. Then the thesis gives brief summaries about th

6、ree fathers whole lives, which help readers know clearly about their experience. After those, the thesis analyzes the images of the three typical fathers respectively from the perspective of the fathers themselves and from the perspectives of their children.The images of the fathers in two books are

7、 impressive, and it is significant and helpful to readers interested in the two books to understand the three typical fathers images. This paper uses the methods of comparison, literature research, case analysis and so on to analyze the contrast among the three fathers images, which is beneficial fo

8、r readers to grasp the fathers images well. And it is good chance to awaken a sense of responsibility and duty as a father while educating children, which is beneficial to urge people to behave in a proper way and to deepen the sense of social responsibility.Key Words: contrast; fathers images; the

9、sense of responsibility; redemption摘 要追风筝的人和灿烂千阳是美国著名作家卡勒德胡赛尼的两本著作，其作品关注于展示阿富汗人民的苦难和最感人至深的心灵。本文首先对作者，两部作品以及两部小说中阿富汗的历史背景进行了简单的介绍。然后对三位父亲的一生进行了简单的总结，来帮助读者们更清楚地了解他们的人生经历。最后文章从父亲自身和孩子们两个角度，分别对三位父亲的形象进行分析。两本书中的父亲形象令人印象深刻，了解并理解书中三个典型的父亲形象，对那些对这两本著作感兴趣及喜爱的读者们来说很重要并且很有帮助。本文运用了比较研究法、文献研究法、案例分析法等方法对两本书中三个经典的

10、父亲形象进行分析，便于读者更好的掌握书中的父亲形象，同时有利于唤醒父亲们对子女教育的责任感和使命感，有利于加深人们对自身的约束力和对社会的责任感。关键词：对比；父亲形象；责任感；赎罪ContentsTOC o 1-3 h z u0122356Contrast of the Fathers Images Between The Kite Runnerand A Thousand Splendid SunsIntroductionIn this part, it gives three brief introductions about the author, The Kite Runner an

11、d A Thousand Splendid Suns and the historical background in two books, from which readers grasp clearly the basic information about the targeted books and fathers images.1.1. Introduction to Khaled HosseiniKhaled Hosseini, a famous writer, born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965 and moved to America with

12、 father in 1980. He graduated from Santiago Medical College, University of California and now lives in northern California. He has written three outstanding books, whose global sale has reached 40 million: The Kite Runners, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed, which shocks the worl

13、d with their huge international influences. His works focus on showing the hard lives and the most touching parts of hearts of the people in Afghan. In 2006, he was awarded United Nations Humanitarian Award and invited to host the post of The UNHCR goodwill envoy. The Times praises him as “Hosseini

14、is a truly gifted tellers of taleshes not afraid to pull every string in your heart to make it sing.”1.2. Introduction to The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid SunsThe Kite Runner is the first novel written by Khaled Hosseini, which was published in 2003, and it was the third ranking of the best s

15、elling of America in 2005. Later it was rendered into cinema by Marc Forster. It tells a story in the first person about two boys, Amir from a wealthy family and his servant Hassan, with their kites in Afghan, and it is about the betrayal and the redemption.A Thousand Splendid Suns published in 2007

16、 is the second novel of Khaled Hosseini, and it marks that his novels get into a new and full-blown stage. It tells a unfortunate and suffering story about two Afghan women. The woman are fettered by enduring the hunger and the disease; the families are suffering the great loss of wars and homelessn

17、ess; the country is under the pressure of the wars between the Former Soviet Union, Taliban and America. Hosseini writes and describes details with symbolism and stream of consciousness to denounce the war and to fight for women s rights.1.3. Introduction to the Background of The Kite Runner and A T

18、housand Splendid SunsThe Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are all set in the thirty years of the mutinies in Afghan. In 1973, Mohamed Daoud Khan staged a coup, having overthrowing the monarchy, and established a republic. In 1979, during the Cold War with America, the Soviet Union invaded Af

19、ghanistan. Through a decades war of resistance against aggression with the support from the western world, Afghanistan expelled the invaders in 1989. Then Afghanistan went through years of civil war from 1992 to 1996. Being in power from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban regime enforced strict Islamic law t

20、o forbid women to work, and to execute the opponents severely, which suppressed human nature and was considered as tyranny.In 2001, America invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban regime; however, the remainder of the Taliban force still made insurrections frequently. It is until 2004 that the

21、 first democratic election was held, and Hamid Karzai became the first president of Afghanistan and again won his second term in 2009.During the thirty years of the mutinies, Afghans was under the threat of poverty, disease, hunger, homelessness, war and other basic conditions of human survival. Bes

22、ides, there were a lot of issues of the society. Firstly, racial discrimination and religious belief were irreconcilable problems, and the Hazaras were discriminated, marginalized and exploited by the Pashtuns because of different religions. Secondly, women had little power or right not only in soci

23、ety but also in families. They could not work by themselves, just stayed at home, bearing the polygamy. Women could be arranged to marry someone they were unwilling to marry, even they were tortured by men. Thirdly, the illegitimate children were shames to families; however, the children and the mis

24、tresses were hidden or discriminated even punished, men were innocent. The whole society was ill. People lived in the dark and there is still a long and hard way to walk out for Afghans.2. The Lives of the Fathers in The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid SunsIn this part, the lives of three typica

25、l fathers, Amirs Father and the father Amir in The Kite Runner and the father Jalil in A Thousand Splendid Suns, are shown objectively in obvious stages, which will help readers have a preferable understanding of what happens in their lives and what they really are.2.1. The Life of Amirs Father in T

26、he Kite RunnerThe novel narrated Amirs father as one of main characters with nearly one-second of the novel, but didnt mention the Fathers name. He was called “Father”, “Baba”, “Friend”, “Mr. hurricane”. Father was born in 1933. Amirs grandfather died because a thief broke in and when he was six. So

27、me people said that Father wrestled a neck of a black bear with his bear hands. Nobody doubted whether he was what they really believed or not. Father was rich for his success of business, and he married a beautiful and virtuous lady Sofia but she died early, and they had a son named Amir. Father ha

28、d two true friends, Rahim Khan, his partner and Ali, his servant. Father was aggressive but reasonable distinguishing right from wrong. He was also kind, justicial, strict and brave man. In the late of the 1960s, Father built a orphanage by himself under pressure for no one considered it possible. F

29、ather had extraordinary potency of personality; however, he made a big mistake like life stain. He had a son named Hassan with Alis wife, no one knowing the scandal. Father treated Hassan as his child, and used whole life to atone his sin.In March, 1981, Father left Kabul for Peshawar, Pakistan with

30、 Amir to avoid the civil war. On the way, he saved a woman from being raped by a Soviet soldier without considering his own safety. Later, in the 1980s, Father and Amir moved to Fremont, California, America to start a new life, yet Father was still adjusting the life in America. Although he was not

31、bad in California, he still missed his own homeland and expected to go back to Peshawar instead of staying here. He chose to stay for a better life of Amir. He made a living by himself but refused charity from anyone, which made him a man with dignity. In 1984, Father and Amir started to make a livi

32、ng by selling some junks for small profits at Afghans markets, where Amir met his love, Soraya. When everything was settled, Father was detected with advanced cancer, but he refused chemotherapy. Then he did his last fatherly duty to persuade the general to agree the marriage between Amir and Soraya

33、. One month later after the wedding, the Father passed away quietly at one night. Lots of people came to mourn with their respects, and Father was buried in a small Muslim section of the cemetery.2.2 The Life of the Father AmirAmir is the hero of the novel The Kite Runner, and the novel is written f

34、rom the perspective of his recalling for his nearly entire life and is written about his way to the betrayal and the redemption to his friend Hassan.Amir was a twelve-years-old boy in 1975, he had a closest friend named Hassan, who was the only child of his fathers friend and servant, Ali. Amir like

35、d reading books and stories and was talented in writing which his fathers partner Rahim Khan and Hassan highly phrased, while his father deemed it useless and effeminate and urges him to do something as men should do. He, together with Hassan, participated in a kite-fighting tournament, showing thei

36、r strength and greatest passion, in which they desired to win laurel in the competition in order to win his fathers admiration and to show that he could also live up to his fathers expectations. Soon after the touenament, Amir did a coward and dirty thing that he saw Hassan being raped by a group of

37、 boys leaded by Assef but he was too afraid to do anything to help Hassan, which he could never be relieved of. He attempted to ignore his recreance and shame by marginalizing and framing Hassan to make Hassan abominate him, which made Ali and Hassan decided to move away to their hometown resolutely

38、 and determinedly.Then the civil broke out, Amir and his father left Kabul and moved to America in the 1980s after they fled away from their country. They made their own lives by doing some small business. After Amir fell in love and married a generals daughter Soraya, his father passed away because

39、 of cancer. Amir made up his mind to go back to Afghanistan in 2001 after he visited Rahim Khan for illness in Pakistan and Rahim Khan told him a secret that Hassan was Amirs blood brother. When Amir arrived at the Kabul secretly at the risk of war, he was informed of a grievous news that Hassan and

40、 his wife was killed when the Talibs was massacring the Hazaras and that their only left child Sohrab was arrested and molested by the Talib Assef who once had raped Hassan. Then Amir rescued Sohrab who spent a hellish time in Assefs house and helped Sohrab live with him and Soraya as an adopted son

41、 and accompanied with Sohrab to free from the shadow and trauma.2.3. The Life of the Father in A Thousand Splendid SunsThe Father in A Thousand Splendid Suns was not as important character as those in The Kite Runner, who just showed up for the first one-tenth of the novel. Jalil was the father of M

42、ariam and the husband of Nana; however, nobody called them like that, people called Mariam “harami”, a noun full of injustice, which meant bastard for they were illegitimate children of mistresses. And Jalil was one of the wealthiest and the best-connected business men in Herat. He ran a theater, ow

43、ned lands both in Karokh and Farah, a clothing store and a luxury car. He was friend of the mayor and the provincial governor. And he had three wives and ten legitimate children. Jalil made a mistake that he slept with Nana and gave birth to a girl, named Mariam. He didnt take the responsibility but

44、 to make secret deal with his wives then sent them away. And Jalil came to see them every Thursday with his little sense of guilty. He pretended to be a good father to Mariam and made her live under the illusion that she was treated equally like his other children.On her birthday, Jalil promised her

45、 to take her to his theater but failed to keep his words. When Mariam came to him by herself, her mother Nana committed suicide by hanging. Jalil had to accept her to live in his big house. Sooner after he and his wives arranged a marraige between fifteen-year-old Mariam and a forty-five-year-old sh

46、oemaker named Rasheed who was a Pashtun living in Kabul, which revealed to her what his father really was.3. The Image of the Father in The Kite RunnerThe Fathers Image will be shown from two perspectives: one is from the Father himself and the other is from his son Amir. From the perspective of the

47、 Father himself, the part includes the importance of this character, the appearance description, others remarks, and his own personality traits. From the perspective of his son Amir, the part includes Amirs contradictory feelings towards his father.3.1 The Image of the Father HimselfThe Father is no

48、t even given a name by the author Hosseini; however, readers start to know, to get familiar with, to worship and to adore this character through the authors prestigious and remarkable method to characterization from every aspects. The whole story is narrated in the first person with an intelligent u

49、se of flashbacks. According to the memories of the hero Amir, the portrayal of the Father is clearly shown, even though he is just in the first half of the book, his large influence to every characters runs through the whole story.The Father first appears in the novel when he is 43 years old, and he

50、 is six-foot-five tall “with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree, and a black glare that would drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy”(Hosseini, The Kite Runner 12-13). He is a successful and weal

51、thy businessman, who owns a wildly well managed carpet-exporting business, two pharmacies and a restaurant. And he is a widower who loves his wife deeply and refers to her as his princess. He has two bosom friends, Rahim Khan, who is his business partner and whom he deeply trusted; and Ali, who is a

52、n orphan adopted by Amirs grandfather as a servant and playmate of the Father and whom the Father never discriminates even though Ali is a Hazara. Everyone thinks highly of him for he doesnt only focus on his wealth but also on social charities. He builds an orphanage on his own, which is an instruc

53、tive anecdote and every child wants a wealthy and valiant father like him.According to Hu Jingfang, the Father owns a admirable image in his personality. (Hu 31) The Father is aggressive, it is said that he kills a black bear in his bear hands. He watches the yearly Buzkashi tournament, a fighting t

54、ournament, where a horse rider falls from the horseback, tossed and hurled in the stampede. The Father is an upstanding and honest man. He never despises Ali and Hassan for their blood, their characteristics and their identity as servants. In the process of fleeing, he stands out like a hero at the

55、risk of being killed by a Soviet soldier in order to protect a woman from being raped by the soldier, scolding the soldier without any fear while no one dears to say a word even the womans husband, for which the Father is appreciated with a hand-kissing. “ There is only one sin, only one. And that i

56、s theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft.”(Hosseini, The Kite Runner 17) “There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir.”(Hosseini, The Kite Runner 18) Whats more, the Father execrates the robbing or stealing because once a thief breaks into house and robs Amirs grandpas life, who is a r

57、espectable judge. Because of this hatred, he never forgives that thief and he starts to execrates theft. Thats the reason why he feels himself guilty and hates himself when he has a son with friend Alis wife. He regards himself as a thief, too. Therefore, he is searching ways to redemption all his l

58、ife. However, the Father forgives Hassan who is falsely framed to steal Amirs money and dearly watch, because he regards Ali as his brother and Hassan as his son while he abominates stealing that much. The Father doesnt want to make sins again by letting them go. “Baba had wrestled bears his whole l

59、ife. Losing his young wife. Rasing a son by himself. Leaving his beloved homeland, his wantan. Poverty. Dignity. In the end, a bear had come that he couldnt best. But even then, he had lost on his own terms.”(Khaled Hosseini 160) Its a short review of the Father. The Father is so strong and firm that he never yield to anyone or anything. The bear at first is just a black bear, later it becomes a symbol which stands for the homeland, America, a